


Freddie Finds a Better Way (prompt)

by wysiwygot



Category: The Take (TV)
Genre: Drug Abuse, Emotional/Psychological Abuse, F/M, Fat Shaming, Gaslighting, Originally Posted on Tumblr, Tumblr Prompt
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-12-10
Updated: 2018-12-10
Packaged: 2019-09-15 23:53:05
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 822
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16943079
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/wysiwygot/pseuds/wysiwygot
Summary: Freddie found a better way. There was a formula. Eleven easy-peasy steps.





	Freddie Finds a Better Way (prompt)

**Author's Note:**

> Freddie Jackson is gross and terrible, and writing him made me feel dirty. Here there lies gaslighting and general spousal abuse.
> 
> Written for a prompt on Tumblr from TheAstronomer: Freddie Jackson finds a better way.

At first, it was easy for Freddie Jackson to get his girl Jackie to do what he wanted her to. She was a fool for him, every turn. In the early days, all he had to do was give her a look—a special look—and she’d drop whatever she had going and come to him like a loyal bitch. Salad days, really. Oh they things she’d do for him in the name of love. Didn’t matter that Freddie didn’t feel the same way—that wasn’t important, was it? What Freddie truly loved only amounted to three things: money, drugs, and fucking.

It turns out that Jackie was partial to those three things herself. And a fourth: him. It’s why when he threw a baby up into her, she acted like she’d won the bloody lottery.

Later, when the special look didn’t work anymore, probably around the time that he first got sent up for a six-month stretch, with a second babe on the way, Freddie had to find new ways to get Jacks to comply. She was savvy now. Happy enough to see him when he got out, good at spending his money, but suspicious-like. She wanted to establish something she called “ground rules”—which was not fuckin’ happening, mate. Freddie Jackson was not to be kept on a leash, not even by his wife.

He changed tack: A spot of attention here and there worked. Act interested in whatever she was prattling on about. Didn’t have to fake it much when she’d talk about her kid sister, Mags, who was turning out to be much more of a looker than old Jackie. Jackie gushed and swooned over every scrap he doled out. Couldn’t give her too much, mind, or she’d get superior again. Just a little splash there, a dash here, and she was putty in his hands.

That approach stopped working when Freddie got sent up for that long stretch for Ozzy. When he got out, he discovered that she’d let herself go in his absence. Looking plump in a displeasing way, slaggier than he’d remembered. She was a bit long in the tooth, Jackie was, so he tried something that seemed to work with most women: Treat ‘em mean, keep ‘em keen.

But then she was fuckin’ bawling all the time. The waterworks, man. Endless supply. Freddie realized he needed something more subtle. He had to find a better way to get Jackie off his back and onto hers, get her to lose a tonne of what she said was baby weight but he suspected was just good ol’ flab, and keep her in line.

Freddie found a better way. There was a formula. Eleven easy-peasy steps.

  1. Blatant lies: You’re the only one for me, Jacks. Can’t even get stiff at pornos anymore.
  2. More lies, especially about what he did and didn’t say: No, Jacks, I never said boo about your fat arse making it impossible to get in there doggy-style. You’re making shit up now, love.
  3. Hit ‘er where it hurts: Those kids deserve a better mother—one that’s not all zapped out on diet pills and chardonnay. Even fuckin’ Maggie would have been a better mum than you and she’s just a kid.
  4. Wear her down, little by little: Yeah, right, sure—leave my children with your mum. I’m sure it’ll be fun for them. Maybe she can teach them how to pour her a drink. Let her ruin them like she ruined you and your sister. Granny of the year.
  5. This is not happening: I would NEVER go out on you. I was out all night and came home with claw marks down my back and pink lipstick all ‘round my cock, yeah, but I’d  _never_  go out on you, Jackie. You’re my bloody wife!
  6. A smidge of positive reinforcement: No one takes care of me like you do, Jacks. No one would put up with me.
  7. Be her raft in stormy seas: Your life is a right mess, love. Everything is totally bollocksed with the kids, your health, your sister and your mum. I’m the only one on your side. Me. Freddie’s got you, babe.
  8. Projection: You, Jacqueline, are a fucking addict loser twat who doesn’t give a toss about anyone but yourself.
  9. Turn their allies against them: Ain’t that right, Maggie? Aren’t you worried about Jacks’ health?
  10. Tell them they’re crazy: You’re a fuckin’ nutter who should be dragged out of here in a straitjacket, the way you treat me, someone who’s never shown you nothing but love and kindness.
  11. Everyone else is a liar: Not one to blow smoke up your arse, Jacks, but seeing as no one else is going to tell you the truth, I’ll do it.



See? Easy as Sunday morning. Once this strategy was employed, Freddie found that he could neatly wrap Jackie right around his bent little finger and she would let him get away with murder.


End file.
